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Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat (Khmer, literally "city temple") is a Khmer temple, most notable for being the largest religious complex in the world. The nearest town is Siem Reap, at 3.5 miles away.Wikipedia. "Angkor Wat." Retrieved on January 7, 2017. Architecture Angkor Wat has five main towers; there is a tall tower in the middle, with four slightly shorter ones surrounding it in a square shape, with one tower being one corner of the square. A wall surrounds the complex, with an entrance facing the west. The temple itself is designed to represent Mount Meru, the Hindu holy mountain. On the walls of the temples there are many carvings of battles, social settings, and dancers, as well as carvings of the Buddha. History Angkor Wat began construction under Suryavarman II in the 12th century. It was originally going to be a Hindu temple, but ended up converting to Buddhism during construction. It may, in fact, have been intended to be the final resting place of Suryavarman after he died. The temple received Western attention in the 19th century, when a French explorer discovered it for the first time. As he described it: "One of these temples—a rival to that of Solomon, and erected by some ancient Michelangelo—might take an honorable place beside our most beautiful buildings. It is grander than anything left to us by Greece or Rome, and presents a sad contrast to the state of barbarism in which the nation is now plunged."Quoted in Brief Presentation by Venerable Vodano Sophan Seng; used in Wikipedia article "Angkor Wat." He confused it for something built by a contemporary of Greece or Rome. Angkor and Mahendraparvata Angkor Wat was the primary temple of a now-ruined city called Angkor, which had at least 1 million people, and might have been the largest city in the world until the 18th century.Livescience. "Angkor Wat: History of Ancient Temple." Retrieved on January 7, 2017. Angkor was the capital city of the Khmer Empire until Jayavarman VII moved it to Angkor Thom in the 12th century.Wikipedia. "Angkor Thom." Retrieved January 7, 2017. By scanning the Cambodian rain forest with aerial lasers, scientists were able to uncover a lost city named Mahendraparvata, about 25 miles north of Angkor Wat.Livescience. "'Lost' Medieval City Discovered Beneath Cambodian Jungle." Retrieved January 7, 2017. By discovering Mahendraparvata, the scientists were also able to discover a new classification of Khmer architecture, including what they called rectilinear coils. In essence, rectilinear were walls of sand with trenches between the two walls; it is believed that they represented gardens. Age of Empires II Version The Age of Empires II version of the building, which, appropriately, belongs to the Khmer, is a somewhat faithful recreation of the real building, although it is compressed and scaled down. The outer wall is also not present, and there is a high staircase underneath the towers, presumably to represent the series of staircases that used to lead up to the main building. In real life, however, the staircase wasn't as high, and there was more space between the staircase and the entrances to the main temple. The actual towers of the temple, however, are accurately portrayed. References Category:Khmer Empire Category:Temples Category:Medieval period Category:Southeast Asia